Moon! Moon! Moon!

The other morning, Chloe, Sophie and I were walking to the school bus stop. The sky was a bright blue with some stray clouds, and the full moon was still visible.

Chloe and I showed little Sophie the sphere which, depending on where we stood on the sidewalk, was more or less visible. Sometimes branches blocked it, sometimes we had a clear view. But Sophie is only two. And she was extremely perplexed when she couldn’t find the moon. And every time Chloe and I pointed to its location, she inevitably faced the wrong way and became more frustrated because the moon wasn’t there. Clearly, Sophie still doesn’t understand what it means to point at something.

Because I tend to have verbal diarrhea with my two-year old, I actually tried to explain the moon’s relationship to the earth. Of course, that discourse just disturbed her even more. Chloe simply laughed. Sophie cried, “Moon! Moon! Moon!”, looking for it desperately in the sky. This went on for the ten or so minutes we were waiting at the stop.

I thought it was over once Chloe climbed into the bus. But, no – because by then the moon had set for the day. Sophie was so upset that I had to carry her all the way home, while she moaned about the moon’s disappearance.

I then made the brilliant decision to tell her that when the moon goes to sleep, the sun comes out – they have a partnership of sorts, I explained. She apparently took my message to heart. The day after she had her moon crisis, Sophie looked out the window of the car and became agitated because she couldn’t find the sun, which was hidden by clouds. You can guess what happened next. She started asking for the moon. All I can say is, as the world turns…literally.